Vegans’ fury over new British £5 note

The Bank of England has appeased vegans and vegetarians by changing the new £5 note to scrap any traces of animal fat.

The bizarre dispute began earlier this week when it emerged that the new £5 notes would be made using tallow, a substance produced from animal fat, The Telegraph reports.

The new £5 note, as the Bank of England said the supplier of the polymer note is looking at "potential solutions" following criticism over the use of animal fat during the production process. (AAP) ()

The Bank announced on Tuesday night that the company that supplied it with polymer pellets was looking into “potential solutions” to the issue.

An online petition has attracted more than 100,000 signatures to adapt the manufacturing process of the notes.

Dan Hanks, a vegan freelance writer, told the Standard he was also considering boycotting the note for “the same reason I don’t wear leather – it would make me uncomfortable using something that has (at least partly) come from animal suffering”.

The Bank Of England’s Governor Mark Carney said they treated the concerns of tallow in the new notes “with the utmost seriousness”.

The new notes are said to have increased durability compared to the paper currency.